What Does 1 Samuel 1:20 Mean?
When the days had come around, Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, the asked-for one, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.THE KEY
The child’s arrival carries Hannah’s request forward, so the answer still bears the sound of the asking.
THE MEANING
The verse holds asking and answer together: a longing brought before the LORD takes visible form in a child. Hannah’s explanation keeps the request present within the answer, so what arrives carries the memory of what was asked.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that an answered request no longer matters: Hannah’s words keep the asking attached to the answer.
THE ROOT
שְׁאִלְתִּיו
she'iltiv
GROWS FROM
שאל
ask, request
“Samuel, the asked-for one” in this verse is she'iltiv. The verb comes from שאל (sha’al, “ask, request”). Samuel’s name, שְׁמוּאֵל (Shemu’el, often understood as “heard by God”), is not formed from this root; Hannah’s words link the name to her asking through the story, keeping the answer tethered to the request.
ALSO GROWS
she'elah: petition, request
שְׁאֵלָה
The request becomes a thing that can be named, echoing Hannah’s explanation for the child’s name.
Sha'ul: asked for, requested
שָׁאוּל
This branch describes one who is requested, bringing the root’s movement from asking toward what is asked for.
THE PATTERN
A request carried to God can become a visible answer that still bears witness to the asking.
And Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren, and the LORD was moved by him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.For this child I prayed, and the LORD has given me the request I asked of him.But the messenger said to him, Do not be seized by awe, Zacharias, for your need has been heard and answered; and your wife Elisabeth will bring forth a son for you, and you will call his name John.THE THREAD
For this child I prayed, and the LORD has given me the request I asked of him.The Hebrew words translated “petition” and “asked” both grow from שאל (sha’al, “ask, request”). English separates the request from the act of asking, while the shared root holds them together in the answer Hannah names.
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